Leviticus 18:17
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This verse doesn't just prohibit marrying your stepdaughter; it extends the principle to your step-granddaughters as well, emphasizing a deep interconnectedness within family by marriage. The core idea is that affinity—the relationship established through marriage—creates a bond just as strong as blood kinship, and this closeness is what makes such unions "depravity."
You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, and you shall not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; it is depravity.
English Standard Version (ESV)
This passage is part of a larger section in Leviticus laying out detailed laws about sexual purity and prohibiting various forms of forbidden relationships. Following the commands against incest with parents and siblings, this verse specifically extends those prohibitions to include certain relationships by marriage, emphasizing that these unions are considered "wickedness" due to their closeness. The verses immediately following continue to list prohibited sexual relationships, reinforcing the strict boundaries God set for His people.
This verse prohibits marrying your wife's daughter, granddaughter, or great-granddaughter. But why does it group them together with such intensity?
This prohibition dives deep into the concept of 'one flesh' in marriage. When a man marries a woman, they become one flesh. This union creates a spiritual and relational bond that extends, by association, to her blood relatives.
The verse concludes by calling these forbidden unions 'depravity.' What makes these relationships so utterly wrong in God's eyes?
The word translated as 'depravity' or 'wickedness' in this verse carries a strong sense of moral corruption and perversion.
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Understand the original words
zimmah · Hebrew Noun
A term describing conduct that is morally abhorrent, wicked, or a violation of moral law; it implies a perversion of God's order for human relationships.
she'er · Hebrew Noun
Someone belonging to the same family or clan; kinship bonds defined community roles and prohibited certain marital or sexual unions.
This passage directly follows Leviticus 18 and prescribes the death penalty, often by fire, for the specific incestuous relationships forbidden in verse 17, highlighting the severity with which God viewed these violations.
Deuteronomy 27:23This verse curses anyone who 'lies with his father-in-law's wife' (his stepmother), which is implicitly covered by the prohibition against relations with a woman and her daughter, reinforcing the familial boundaries God intended.
1 Corinthians 5:1The Apostle Paul rebukes the Corinthian church for tolerating incest, specifically a man living with his father's wife, echoing the principle of Leviticus 18 against unnatural sexual relations within close familial or affinal ties.
Matthew 5:27-28Jesus expands the understanding of sexual sin beyond the physical act to the lustful thought, connecting to the 'wickedness' mentioned in Leviticus 18:17 by showing that even the heart's desire towards forbidden relations is contrary to God's pure standard.
pooleLeviticus 18:17: "Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son's daughter, or her daughter's daughter, to uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness."
Of a woman and her daughter, to wit, thy step-daughter, and so thy step-son’s daughter, &c. It is wickedness; because they are very near to thy wife by consanguinity, as coming directly from her; and therefore they are as near to thee by affinity, which binds as mu…
gillLeviticus 18:17: "Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son's daughter, or her daughter's daughter, to uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness."
Thou shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter,.... That is, if a man marries a woman, and she has a daughter, which is the man's daughter-in-law, after the death of his wife he may not marry this daughter; for this daughter is of the same flesh w…
This verse doesn't just prohibit marrying your stepdaughter; it extends the principle to your step-granddaughters as well, emphasizing a deep interconnectedness within family by marriage. The core idea is that affinity—the relationship established through marriage—creates a bond just as strong as blood kinship, and this closeness is what makes such unions "depravity."
This passage is part of a larger section in Leviticus laying out detailed laws about sexual purity and prohibiting various forms of forbidden relationships. Following the commands against incest with parents and siblings, this verse specifically extends those prohibitions to include certain relationships by marriage, emphasizing that these unions are considered "wickedness" due to their closeness. The verses immediately following continue to list prohibited sexual relationships, reinforcing the strict boundaries God set for His people.
This passage is part of a larger section in Leviticus laying out detailed laws about sexual purity and prohibiting various forms of forbidden relationships. Following the commands against incest with parents and siblings, this verse specifically extends those prohibitions to include certain relationships by marriage, emphasizing that these unions are considered "wickedness" due to their closeness. The verses immediately following continue to list prohibited sexual relationships, reinforcing the strict boundaries God set for His people.
"You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, and you shall not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; it is depravity." — This verse doesn't just prohibit marrying your stepdaughter; it extends the principle to your step-granddaughters as well, emphasizing a deep interconnectedness within family by marriage. The core id…
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Last reviewed October 2026
